Two external sectors, namely the ready-made garments industry (RMG) and remittances, have hugely contributed to the development of Bangladesh. In fact, the RMG sector has become the single largest source of trade earnings by generating over 80 percent of the export total. Not only that, presently, more than 4 million employees are engaged in this sector. Indeed, the RMG industry in Bangladesh has made it possible to create paid employment opportunities for a large cohort of poor and vulnerable women. Hence, stock-taking of this sector provides not only the impetus for policy analysis perspective but also guiding notes for other emerging sectors. Against this backdrop, this chapter unpacks the story of the “development case” of the RMG sector in Bangladesh—its historical evolution, major challenges, and measures to overcome those challenges. It also discusses the growth pattern as well as the impact of the industry on employment creation, women’s empowerment in the society, the introduction of backward and forward linkage sectors, and poverty reduction in Bangladesh. The chapter also specifies the challenges of this industry and points out the measures to overcome them for the sustainability and growth of the industry. Lastly, the chapter spells out the future of this industry.

Purpose: This paper aims to deal with international marketing of products, analyzing how adaptation/standardization and network development are achieved when marketing products in Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach: By applying a qualitative method, the study was conducted at four multinationals, British American Tobacco, Perfetti Van Melle, Tetrapak and Reckitt Benckiser, operating in Bangladesh. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, direct observation and official documents. The analysis was conducted through construction of themes that were identified from the data set.

Findings: The study demonstrates that business relationships related to a local market should be adapted to customer preferences. The research suggests that a balanced combination of product quality and development of new, innovative products adapted to the needs of the market and the customers establishes trust and networks. Cultural and market context were found to influence multinational companies (MNCs)s to standardize the quality of the products and adapt marketing mix components to the needs of consumers.

Research limitations/implications: The paper contributes to international marketing literature with a model of product marketing based on context, trust, networks and adaptation/standardization. The model introduces the cultural dimension of femininity/ masculinity and the innovation of products and market structure. The study is limited to one emerging market. Further studies should explore other emerging market economies and MNCs.

Practical implications: The results suggest that to meet the challenges of emerging market economies and achieve success, managers should take people and market needs into consideration.

Originality/value: This paper extends product marketing literature by presenting a context-based model for MNCs’ product marketing.

This research deals with the influence of microfinance/microcredits on business development analyzing how micro finances affect establishment of small enterprises in Sweden. For the analysis, the following research questions were addressed: How do small enterprises get access to microfinances and what kind of businesses are established through microfinances? Microcredit means giving entrepreneurs access to financial resources to borrow a small amount of money to invest in income generating business activities context related. A model of microcredit was developed to lend money to the poor for business entrepreneurship. Access to microfinance can facilitate poverty reduction and incorporate economic and social development. Relationship based lending is affected by cultural and social context. Multiple case studies were applied for data collection from two small enterprises in Gothenburg, Sweden and a microfinance institution in Sweden. Qualitative data was collected in form of semi-structured interviews. Direct observation and documents were also used as data source. The study shows that microfinance contributes to development of sustainable enterprises and generates employment for people. The research shows that microfinance leads to sharing risks and financing projects in social enterprises, cooperative business and associations. It provides people with social networks, enhances their independence, empowers them and improves the quality of their life by generating incomes. It is important for the microfinance institutions to get recognition as important actors in the financial sector to succeed. The research contributes to the literature and theories of microfinances by developing a model about microfinances in developed countries. The limitation of the study is that we had studied only two small enterprises in a developed country. We suggest comparative studies on the influence of microfinance on business development and women empowerment between emerging economies and developed countries or between developed countries.

REFERENCES [1] C. Fouillet, M. Hudon, B. Harris-White and J. Copestake, “Micorfinance studies: Introduction and overview,” Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2013, pp. 1-16. [2] K. Burzynska and O. Berggren,“ The impact of social beliefs on microfinance performance,” Journal of International Development, Vol. 27, No. 7, 2014, pp.1074-1097. [3] M. Yunus, “Building social business: The new kind of capitalism that serves humanity’s most pressing needs,” The University press Limited: Bangladesh, 2010. [4] M. Yunus, “banker to the poor: The autography of Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank,” The University press Limited: Bangladesh, 1998.

This study sought to ascertain the possible determinants that sway rural consumers’ behavioral intention to use technology driven services in Bangladesh. Using the self-administrated questionnaire followed by several in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) as supporting instruments, this study analyzed information gathered from one hundred and three respondents, drawn purposively from a village locally known as Dollar Bazar, situated in Manikganj district of Bangladesh.  All respondents were provided with the structured and self-administrated questionnaires and advised to quantify their responses in a 7-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly Disagree (SD) to Strongly Agree (SA). Questionnaire items were primarily adopted from prior studies, pertinent to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) diffusion, adoption, and acceptance. Results of the study reveal that the three retained observed variables; Service Perception (SP), Perceived Interaction (PI), Intention to Use (ITU) have good degree of internal consistency. Moreover, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results brought out the facts that the variable, namely Perceived Interaction (PI) is significantly affecting the dependent variable while Service Perception (SP) has no significant effect on the intention to use which are quite consistent with the earlier estimates in this field. Findings of this study have theoretical contributions as it directly contributes by enhancing the outlook of the literature of technology adoption, and provide managerial implications for ICT driven organizations (i.e. Telecom companies, Value Added service [VAS] providers, Financial Institutions) by enhancing knowledge regarding the rural consumers of Bangladesh and their behavior. 

This study examines how buyers and suppliers balance control and trust to manage compliance with corporate social responsibility (CSR) requirements in supply chains (SCs). Two in-depth, qualitative case studies of the Bangladesh apparel industry on two multinational companies of the same European country were conducted. This study indicates that a buyer’s need for control and trust is important in contact with other actors for managing CSR compliance. Formal control is found to generate competence trust, whereas intentional trust is achieved through informal control. Intentional trust is helpful for competence and capacity development, but for it to continue the supplier needs to fulfill the buyer’s expectations. Competence of the supplier is viewed as a prerequisite for developing competence trust. This study analyzes control and trust to fill an important gap in SC theory on relationships by stressing how these constructs interact and complement each other to manage CSR compliance in apparel industry. Firms must focus on a balanced relationship between trust and control to manage CSR compliance. Willingness to collaborate can only work when supplier competence and managerial resources are ensured. This study notes that managers need both formal and informal control to create competence and intentional trust in the supply chains. Capacity building is viewed as a complement, not an alternative to CSR compliance. With its closer attention to control and trust, this study fills an important gap in SC theory on relationships by stressing how these constructs interact and complement each other for managing CSR compliance in supply chains.

This research deals with Marketing of products. We analyzed how adaptation/standardization and network development are achieved when marketing products in Bangladesh as an emerging market. We conducted case studies for data collection in British American Tobacco, Perfetti Van Melle, Tetrapak, and Reckitt Benckiser. Qualitative data have been collected as semi-structured interviews, direct observation and documents. It is argued that renowned global brands with global reputation are seen positively by the customers and the consumers. The study demonstrates that relationships related to the local market are to be adapted to customers´ preferences to develop emotional attachments and networks. The study suggest that a balanced combination of product quality and development of new diversity of products adapted to the needs of the market and the customers establishes trust and networks giving the possibility of success for product providers and the acceptance of products by the local customers. The research contributes to international marketing literature by developing a model of products’ marketing based on trust, network and adaptation/standardization.

Purpose: The study aims to explore how SC suppliers respond to corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation strategies and deal with institutional constraints within the global supply chain. Design/Methodology/approach: This research study followed a mixed method approach. A qualitative case study was developed based on data collected through in-depth interviews, observations, workshops and seminar discussions. Findings: Two CSR strategies were identified, together with managerial, organizational, and societal constraints. Both strategies fail due to CSR ignorance and economic constraints of the suppliers. The corporate-driven strategy is constrained by limiting the supplier's margins forcing them to use less responsible subcontractors. The partnership strategy fails as it allows the suppliers to ignore compliance to CSR implementation rules and especially in economically difficult situations. Research limitations/implications: This paper has several limitations. The data illustrate a specific industry and SC companies in a specific country context which makes generalizations difficult. Practical implications: Long-term economic cooperation and negotiation between involved supply chain (SC) parties is prerequisite to improve supplier ability to act independently. This means that the corporate-driven CSR strategy in SC is so far easier to manage but elicit costs for suppliers. Originality/value: This study addresses the difficulties in managing the corporate-driven strategy and the partnership strategy in emerging market business context that traditionally has institutionalized corporate-driven SC control. With focus on two main CSR implementation strategies applied by two case corporations, this article contributes to show how institutional constraints influence on supplier ability in the studied SC context.

This paper provides a deep insight into the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) image scenario of the international buying firms and Bangladesh suppliers as well as identifies the challenges for building a positive supply chain (SC) CSR image for the suppliers of Bangladesh clothing industry. The contribution of this paper is that it improves knowledge of SC CSR image from the supplier’s as well as the buyer’s perspective. This paper also provides suggestions regarding improvement of Suppliers’ CSR image that can influence the SC CSR image.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how market orientation is applied in service firms to resolve complexity with intangibility and heterogeneity while offering services to the customers. To conduct this study, two interest-free banks from Sweden and Bangladesh have been compared. It is argued in the paper that these niche banks will emphasize on tangibility and heterogeneity to have competitive advantage over the traditional banks. As interest-free banking is intricate and the research purpose is theory development, a case method has been used to conduct this study. A theoretical framework is developed based on trust and network which influence market orientation, tangibility and heterogeneity resulting to value creation. In the Swedish bank, value creation is found to relate with supporting ecological thinking, visible banking, customers’ friendly terms & conditions and offering normal banking facilities. Partnership, risk sharing, problem solving approach, trust and interest-free borrowing are considered value creating components in the Bangladeshi bank. Future research can include all service characteristics and also compare between pure Islamic banks focusing marketing orientation.

All Organization needs to design their product and services according to the demand of its customers in order to be successful. If there is any package or service strategy which is right from the viewpoint of the company but is not attractive to the customers, company can face huge loss and the goodwill of the company can be hampered. The study focuses on the microfinance programs offered by BRAC and evaluates the situation from the perspective of the consumers by using the GAP Model.